UNMASKING THE DEVIL IN YOUR FAMILY

Today’s teaching is of paramount importance. Too often, I see people who are battling with family members, whether it’s their husbands or wives, or children not serving the Lord, or perhaps even the enemy has brought a sword of division. There’s a coldness in the family and there is no longer love shown. 

There are a number of verses that we are going to look at today.

The first verse we’ll be looking at is in Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:32-39 “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: ³³ partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; ³⁴ for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. ³⁵ Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

³⁷ “For yet a little while,

And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
³⁸ Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.”

³⁹ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” (NKJV)

The Bible is saying that you must think of that day when you encountered God and your spirit was opened. When you were illuminated to the fact that there is a call of God on your life. You endured a great struggle! The Kingdom of God comes with great struggle, and with much affliction according to the book of Psalms.

When you answer the call of God, and take it seriously, you will experience the devil trying to take you out. The fact is that if it’s not the devil himself, it will be family, and if not family, it will be friends, and oftentimes, circumstances.

 The moment King David was anointed, the Bible says that the Philistines heard it and sought to kill him.

 When you go through persecution, it is often a sign that you are living a godly life. It’s a sign that it is time for your promotion, and that you carry the blessing of God on your life. In Acts 4, we read that the disciples were persecuted and they came together and began to pray all with one voice, and while they were praying with one voice, the room was shaken.

Many have asked me over the years, “how do you enter into the Kingdom of God?”

The answer is not always one they want to hear. Because the doorway is tribulations, persecutions, slander, attacks, back-biters and gossip. It is a high price to pay, but it’s worth it.

Many complain saying, “but it’s so hard…” Well, of course it is. But you need to be a contradiction to whatever is happening, by continuing to praise God through it all. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, but they said that even if God didn’t deliver them, they would not bow their knee to Baal.

We need the mindset to say, “I don’t care if financial breakthrough doesn’t come, because even if this thing doesn’t work out, I will serve You with passion, because You have written my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You saved my soul from eternal fire, You have placed peace in my heart.”

We should never fail to remember that we have so much to be thankful for!

Hebrews 10:33 “…partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;” (NKJV)

In today’s main scripture, it says, “partly while you were made a spectacle”.

When you get on fire for God, most times, the first thing that will happen is that your family will come against you. If not your family, it will be your friends or even those who you go to church with.

It is our decision whether we go through persecution or not, and pay the price so that there can be a lifting. It is not God’s decision. For those who are persecuted, there is a specific crown given;  a reward that God gives you.

The word “companions” in this scripture means to be associated with those who are persecuted, because it is persecution which carries the Glory of God.

 Hebrews 10:34-35 “for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. ³⁵ Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward…” (NKJV)

 What this verse is saying is that when you get saved, your family are going to try and question your encounter, how you could change, how can you be used by God and lay hands on people etc. It’s because they are looking at you through their eyes of familiarity and how they knew you three years ago. In their human nature, they will try to pull you down. It’s just like that. You need to make peace with the reality that your family will persecute you.

 When the Glory of God comes upon you, it comes with the greatest trials as well. It doesn’t matter what others may tell you. Remember, Paul was killed, Peter was crucified upside down, John the Baptist’s head was cut off, the other John was boiled in oil only to find that his flesh kept renewing like a baby and it didn’t touch him, others were pierced with spears, others bodies were torn in pieces.

 Don’t pray for persecution to bypass you. Rather pray that your persecution be the greatest honour, because you’ll see the greatest move of God in the church because of persecution.

 God gave Adam the garden to tend, which served as his ministry / business / family, then God created Eve as his helper. In the same way, the Holy Ghost is our perfect helper, and Eve was symbolic of the Holy Ghost.

 That is why unity between the husband and wife is vital. Because when the vision of the husband and the wife differ, the family will not survive. The blessing of God resides where there is unity. In the Book of Genesis, it says that God blessed them. You see, God blesses order.

 Unmasking the devil in your family can be achieved when you recognise if God’s order is not right in your family, and when you rectify it. If the wife is wearing the pants and the husband trades his authority to rather sit in front of the tv, the devil rushes in.

 The fact is that marriage is just as important as the relationship between Christ and the church. In fact, this is what the Apostle Paul equated it to. Paul said that as Christ loved the church, so is the husband to love his wife. As the church submits to Christ, so the wife submits to her husband. When this is in order, there will be peace in the home.

 There are 3 things that will take place when the order of God is not right in a family. In order to understand these things, we need to read Luke 15.

 Luke 15:11-31 “Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

 20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

 25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

 28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

 31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.” (NKJV)

 There are 3 things that need to take place in a family: 

• Blessing of a Father

When you do not have the blessing of your Heavenly Father, your natural father or your spiritual father’s blessing, then the same will take place as we read in this parable. The lost son took his inheritance and went out without his father’s blessing, and the Bible says that he was seen as lower than his father’s servants. His business crashed, and he was left with nothing.

The reality of this for all of us is that if your parents didn’t bless you, you are on the backfoot. The only way you can be restored back to where you should be is if you forgive them. That is how you break the curse which causes you to not amount to anything. You need to forgive them.

 In this parable, we read how the lost son says that he will go to his father and say “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

The problem is that his father raised his children with a performance mentality, and his son didn’t feel worthy after what he had done. How many times do we feel unworthy because we don’t read our Bible enough, or don’t pray enough, etc.?

You need to break this mentality if you are going to have a healthy relationship with God. When you are adopted in the Spirit of Christ, into the Kingdom, then the adoption that takes place is an eternal adoption - you cannot be put away!

• Embracing and Restoring Position

 Before the son could finish his sentence or repent, the father ran to him and embraced him. There are so many families that are not accepting their children as they are, or failing to embrace them. Forgiveness is what breaks that divide.

The strength of your business or ministry is directly related to the strength of your family. Everything starts with the family unit, and that is why we are unmasking the devil in our families today; to restore God’s order.

There are so many things in this parable that has relevance and I would like to highlight a few.

• The father called his servant and said that he wants him to bring the best robefor him. The robe means righteousness, that is your identity.

• The ring speaks of The father put a ring on his finger, meaning; give your family authority and identity.

• The lost son was given Servants and slaves had no shoes in those days, sons had shoes. When the father came and put shoes on him, he was basically saying that you have your position back. Husbands give your wife a position, wives give your husband position, and parents give your children a position. When you do these things, you will see a devil exposed.

• A fatted calf was usually used to celebrate royalty. The lost son was now found and made to be royalty once again.

 The only way a family can be in unity is when these things are in order.

• Removing Offense 

We read in this parable how the other son had offence and jealousy rising up in his heart, and was unable to be in the midst of the celebration even though he lived in that house. You can be in the house of God for years, and nothing will happen if you have offence in your heart. Because of the son’s offence, it was illegal for him to be in the presence of God and in the midst of the celebration. 

Offence is the biggest and the quickest killer to spiritual growth. 

Unforgiveness is the quickest killer in families and marriages. You must live in a place of forgiveness constantly.

The sin of unforgiveness is greater than the sin that is done against you. 

Christianity is based on forgiveness. It is the most pivotal doctrine because Christ came to die on the Cross for us, to forgive us even though we were still an enemy against Him.  

God will break you to see what you are made of. When brokenness comes, multiplication comes. He is waiting for you to become broken in His Hands. Once you are broken in His hands, He can feed you to the multitudes!

When a life is broken in God’s Hands, nothing is impossible for them.

He can take the most unable person and cause them to shake a city. You will see how God will elevate them. But God can only elevate you when you lower yourself. Humble yourself, and He will lift you up. He will turn the tables!

When persecution hits you, rejoice! Because promotion is at hand. If we don’t humble ourselves, He will eventually humble us or circumstances will humble us because God resists the proud.

Persecutions and accusations come to shift your focus from the call of God. Paul said that if he worried about what people said, he would not be worthy to preach.

Embrace the moment of brokenness, because it is a sure sign that God is close to you.

Hebrews 12:2 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NKJV)

 Make a decision today to unmask the devil in your family by taking up your position in your house, according to the order of God.